


Remember Him

by CheatsatUNO



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-06-12
Packaged: 2017-12-13 04:46:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/820131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheatsatUNO/pseuds/CheatsatUNO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and his best friends are going to a new school since their old one is gone. John meets a short, nub-horned troll after assaulting him with his locker door. The boy, Karkat, gives John the worst cases of deja vu. It doesn't help that John might lose his heterosexual license due to the fact that his feelings for the troll aren't completely platonic. (my summaries still suck)<br/>CURRENTLY ON HIATUS, SORRY!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> my second fanfic, a lot of people seemed to like my last one so I hope this one is just as good.. I also rated it this way because of the cursing.

==> Be John Egbert

You are now JOHN EGBERT and it is your FIRST day of HIGH SCHOOL today. Well not actually your first, you are a JUNIOR, but your old school burned down during the summer so you and your friends all got transferred to a new school. You sling your backpack over your shoulder and leave the house where your BEST BRO DAVE is waiting for you out front in his car. It’s kinda crappy and you all know it but Dave insists on the IRONY of it. JADE and ROSE are already in the car and smiling brightly at you from the front seat, the dark-haired girl waves energetically at you. 

Slipping into the back seat beside Rose, you greet the platinum blonde and she offers a slight smile in return. Dave gives you a smirk in the rearview mirror. You roll your eyes at the albino’s signature shades. They were a gift from you when you were still kids and they were A LOT better than his Bro’s anime shades.  
Dave drives away from your house and the car ride to school is made shorter by excited chatter, mostly from Jade and you.

==> Go to Homeroom

Aww, but you wanted to hang out with your friends some more. None of them have your homeroom and you don’t get schedules until then so you’re pretty on edge the whole time walking to your locker. This year you get one of the coveted TOP LOCKERS to reward you to making it to junior year.

It takes you a minute to get the combination right and your glasses sliding down the bridge of your nose constantly doesn’t help. After a fourth try you successfully open the locker and smile widely. You swing the locker open and hear a metallic clang and steady stream of cursing erupting from whoever you just nailed in the face with your locker door.

“Oh crap!” You slam your locker closed and sink to your knees so you are at eye level with the raven-haired boy on the ground holding his nose. “Are you ok? Shit.” You reach out to touch his shoulder but he jerks it away from you.

“Does it look like I’m ok fuckass?! God, can’t you operate your own motor skills well enough to avoid this kind of shit?” The boy pulls his hands away from his face and inspects them, finding no blood he turns up to glare at you. You are taken aback by bright red eyes and golden sclera. You also notice he has grey skin and tiny, nub candy corn horns peeking out through the black mess that is his hair.

“Hehehe, sorry, guess not.” Against your better judgment you giggled and the troll in front of you(you didn’t think it possible) glared at you harder. If looks could kill.

==> Ask the troll’s name

That actually seems a good idea. You hold out a hand to help him stand but he just glares at it and you wonder for a second if he’s going to bite it with the pointed teeth you can see peeking out from his scowl. He doesn’t and gets to his feet without your help. 

“So what’s your name?” You ask, standing up again. Now that you’re both standing, you see the troll is a few inches shorter than you and smile. You glance at your locker and deflate, it’s closed again. Reaching to get the combination from your back pocket you retrieve a slip of paper with messily scribbled numbers on it. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know? I’m sure your rusted think pan is just dying to learn my name. Well you can shove it so far up your pale ass that ‘Karkat’ will be the only thing resembling speech that will pour from your word hole!” The troll snarls, opening his locker on the first try.

“So you’re name’s Karkat? Beep beep meow.” You giggle trying your locker combination again. Failure. Karkat slams his face into the palm of his hand, realizing he’d slipped up. “I’m John Egbert.” You turn to him again but only see the back of his long-sleeved black shirt.

“Hey! Where are you going?” You call after him as he walks away, a freshmen girl across the hall jumps at your outburst but Karkat pays no mind and keeps walking. You sag against the locker; it’ll never open for you! You watch Karkat down the hall, in a totally-not-creepy way of course. He meets up with two other trolls, one towers over him and the other is about your height. The boy with red and blue glasses seems to be teasing Karkat and the tall one with face paint seems out of it.

==> Be Karkat

You cannot be KARKAT because Karkat is in too deep a pit of self-loathing for you to reach.

==> Well dammit, what now?

You could always tell John to give up on the lost cause that is his locker and go to homeroom before he’s late. That would totally suck if he were.

==> Good idea! John: Go to class

You trudge down the hall, giving up on your locker. It’s a lost cause. Maybe you can find someone to help you? Oh well, you enter the class that is supposedly your homeroom and slink to the back of the room and sit in an empty seat. You teacher isn’t here yet but you know the bell is going to ring soon.

==> Come on John, you’re being boring. Talk to someone!

You don’t feel like it. You kinda didn’t eat breakfast you were so excited and now you’re faced with the fact that you can’t even open a stupid locker without hurting someone. But it looks like you don’t have much of a choice because a small girl seems transfixed on you. She has grey skin and thick, round horns that pop up through a blue hat. She wears a dark green jacket that’s too big for her and it matches her olive green eyes. She reminds you of an eager kitten.

“Hi.” You give a small wave , despite your charisma around friends you were actually sorta shy around strangers.

“Hello!” She chirps brightly. You open your mouth to say more but the teacher comes in and you flinch, no! Dave is not going to like this! The pointy anime shades and blonde hair spiked up tell you exactly who it is. John hadn’t known Dirk was going to teach here too(he had been an engineering teacher at your last school) and prayed to the gods of school scheduling that Dave didn’t get his older brother as a teacher. He did last year at their old school and he was miserable because his brother constantly embarrassed him. Of course through his cool kid act, no one other than you, Rose, and Jade could tell. And of course Dirk.

“Alright, I’m Mr. Strider. Call me Dirk. Seriously. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year so don’t give me any shit. When I call your name come up and get your schedule.” Dirk fumbled through a stack of papers on his desk and got started.

“Eridan Ampora.” Dirk called. A troll walked up to his desk. “Nice cape princess.” Dirk smirked and the troll flushed and snatched the sheet of paper from his hands. Dirk laughed and called another name.

“Sollux Captor.” A lanky troll was next and you recognize him as one of the two that Karkat was with in the hall after he left you. You notice his horns and find he had four, two on each side. That was different. You also notice as Eridan and Sollux pass each other they share a passionate glare of hate. You recall some information on troll romance and a spade pops into your head. You don’t remember the word but it starts with a “k” and that’s all you know.

“John Egb-” Dirk does a double take at your schedule and looks up and gives you a pleased smile. “Egbert.” He wiggles his eye brows at you along with the paper he holds. You sigh, a flush coming to your cheeks and stand up. A few kids laugh but the rest are confused. At least he didn’t call you Egderp. That would have been HORRIBLE! 

You take the paper and go to your seat and examine it. Algebra 2, AP Chemistry, World History, Drama, English III, P.E., and Jazz band. You were overall pretty happy with this although algebra 2 scared the crap out of you. You weren’t even sure how you passed geometry last year. But science was your favorite subject so that was good!

“Nepeta Lejion.” Dirk calls out and the cat girl in front of you bounces up and comes back quickly.

“Hi Nepeta.” You smile when she sits down.

“Hello John! What does your schedule look like?” You show her the slip of paper and her smile widens. “We have drama class together! Isn’t that purrfect!?” She thrills and you can’t help flashing a toothy smile and laughing. She really was a cat!

The two of you talk until the bell rings and you wave goodbye to the troll girl.

==> Go to Algebra 2

You’d rather not but you do anyway and it’s hell. The teacher is nice but she gives you a review packet to do as homework. Great. You really don’t want to be in this class.

==> Go to Chemistry, then, sheesh.

You’ll ignore that attitude and happily go to the class. Once you walk in you notice little pieces of paper with names scrawled carefully on them. Last names. You find “Egbert” at a long, black table with only one other name beside it: Vantas. You take the window seat as decided by your teacher and rifle through your over stuffed book bag for a pencil and notebook. You like to doodle, even if you’re bad at it. 

Pure black hair falls over your forehead in a messy array and obscures your peripheral vision so all you can see is your crappy doodle of Dirk. The chair beside you scratches over the floor and someone sits in it. Must be the Vantas kid.

==> You’re boring John. 

What?!

==> Be the Vantas kid.

You cannot be the Vantas kid. Little do you know, you have already tried to be this kid. Good try though.

==>What?

You look up at your neighbor and a wide smile spreads across your face, exposing your buck teeth and making your deep blue eyes sparkle. The troll next to you shivers as if he can feel your smile and looks up reluctantly. His passive scowl turns into a full on grimace.

“Oh great. Just my fucking luck. Way to go Vantas. Couldn’t just take Computer science with Sollux…” He rests his head on the black table top and you can’t help the giggle in your throat.

“Hi Karkat. Looks like we have second period together!”

“Do we now? I was just in the deluded sense that you had come to this class and made yourself comfortable just to ruin my day. Which is what you’re doing. What are you doing by the way?” Karkat peeks up behind his messy bangs and looks at your notebook. You don’t cover the drawing in time and the troll sits up and stares at your hands over the Dirk doodle.

“Christ Egbert! What the hell is that thing? You suck. Why are you drawing my first period teacher? Oh god, don’t fucking tell me you’ve got some freaky teacher-crush on him.” Karkat actually looks horrified and for some reason you can’t help but stare. You get a sense of weird déjà vu from his expression. His eyes widen when you don’t respond and you remember what he just accused you of.

“What?! No! Dirk? Hell no. He’s my best bro’s Bro! That would be really weird. Besides, I’m not a homosexual.” You put up your hands in defense then slam them down on the drawing, it really does suck.

“A homo-what?” His fearful expression changes to that of annoyed confusion. 

“You know, when a guy likes another guy…” You begin to blush. You’d wish the teacher would come in already, this was kinda getting awkward.

“Ugh, I forgot humans have a word for that. So stupid.” He shakes his head, as if disappointed in the human race. You laugh at his reaction.

“Well trolls have hate-love! That’s weird.” 

“Oh! Someone give Egbert a tantalizing earth baked disk of chocolate and batter. He knows about the black feelings of kismesistude. Congratu-fucking-lations.” Karkat says dramatically and you laugh again. He was really weird but it was kind of endearing in its own way.

“Um, what’s a baked disk of chocolate and batter?” You ask after a glare from the troll stops your laughter.

“Ugh, a cookie bulgemunch.” He rolls his eyes and gives an exasperated sigh.

“What’s a bulgemunch?” Now it’s Karkat’s turn to blush and he shakes his head. You were pretty sketchy on troll anatomy, you don’t remember much from the informational video you’d been forced to watch in elementary school. You think you blacked out once they started showing pictures.

“Shut up.” He growls and the bell punctuates his statement.

==> Where is the teacher?

That’s a good question. You have no idea. You turn to Karkat despite his warning.

“Where’s the teacher?”

“I bumped into her on the way here; she was running to the teachers’ bathroom so I don’t know.” He snaps. Just then a familiar blond stumbles into the room to stand behind a podium. 

“Hello class! Welcome to Chemisthree! Chemistry.” She corrects and laughs in spite of herself. You knew Roxy was a teacher but you never knew where, Rose didn’t talk about her mom much. Roxy’s always drunk but she was some kind of a genius at the same time. Roxy sees you and winks at you; a few other students notice and eye you. You sink down into your seat, looking at your lap to conceal your blush. Damn the adults and their stupid teasing.

“Is she drunk?” You hear Karkat breath, more to himself than you but you answer anyway.

“Yeah, she’s always like that. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” You whisper. Karkat looks at you with an expression you can’t place and Roxy speaks up.

“Mr. Vantas! Stop ogling at sweet little Egbert and start paying attention.” Roxy calls from the front, hands on her hips and black colored lips pursed.

“Ah- I-” Karkat stutters angrily and resigns with a nod. 

“Good Karkitty.” She slurs and turns back the white board behind her to write things down. A few kids laugh again and both boys now sit with their heads down.

 

\--

 

“Why the fuck are you following me?” Karkat hisses over his shoulder at you and you answer with a big smile.

“I’m not. You’re just going the same way as me. What if we have the same class?” You say excitedly, almost bouncing at the thought. Karkat doesn’t seem as thrilled by the idea and groans and then mutters something about there still being Kanaya. You have no idea who Kanaya is or what he’s talking about so you pretend you didn’t hear anything. 

Karkat curses under his breath when you walk into the classroom behind him. You don’t know why he wouldn’t just exchange schedules with you and see what classes you had ahead of time. Karkat just sneered at you whenever you tried to ask though.

Karkat is now making a beeline for a pretty troll girl wearing a pale green blouse and forest green leggings. She smiled calmly at Karkat and you frown, being left behind. The frown changes at the sight of Dave nodding his head at you. You make your way over to him and plop down in the seat next to him.

“Hey bro, what’s with the boy-crush.” He jerks his head to the left where Karkat sits next to Kanaya.

“Daaaave! Not so loud!” You whine. “It’s not like that.” You glare at your best friend and a smirk plays across his face. “Besides, I wouldn’t get cocky, Dirk is here.” Dave stiffens and goes quiet. A small victory for you, you giggle at the sight of a speechless Strider and oh god you hope Dave gets one of his brother’s classes now. The teacher starts calling the class to attention and class starts. More boring explanations of how the year will go and papers are passed out. The bell rings and you make your way to lunch.

==> Go to Lunch

Karkat leaves you immediately and you sigh, heading to your locker. The new books you’ve received are weighing you down and this time you manage to open the god-forsaken thing with only three failed attempts.

The cafeteria is large and filled with students, both troll and human. You spot Nepeta and wave at her. A tall, well-muscled troll with stringy black hair glares at you after the exchange you scurry off to sit at an empty table. You set your tray down and give the apple, hamburger, and milk a lopsided smile. You don’t notice the two girls standing above you. Startled by a sudden cough you look up and your eyes sparkle when they see Rose, Karkat, and Kanaya. 

Karkat was half hidden behind Kanaya and it reminded you how short he was, the glare he sends you only makes him more adorable. Kanaya sweeps her hand out in a gesture to the table.

“May we accompany you here, John?” Her voice is very proper and refined and you nod dumbly, figuring Rose must had shared your name with the troll before the encounter.

“No problem Kanaya. Any friend of Rose is a friend of mine. Unless they play chess, I’ve learned not to trust Rose’s chess friends. They like to mess with people.” You grimace at the old memory of having your brain meddled with after being dragged to one of Rose’s chess club meetings at your old school. Rose gives a small laugh and Karkat rolls his eyes and sets his tray down across from you and you hold out your hand to stop him.

“Hold up Karkat, I never said you could sit here.” You frown at the nubby-horned troll. Hurt flashes across his face and you can’t stop the wave of regret that sets in when he snatches his tray and turns to leave. “Hey! Wait up! I was joking!” You grab the hem of his shirt and pull him into the seat beside you.

“D-dammit Egbert!” He curses as his tray makes a clamor and throws his apple on the floor. You smile apologetically and place your apple on his tray while he’s bending down to pick up his own. He gives you a curious look when he sees the new fruit.

“I dabble in magic.” You explain jokingly. “Nothing like Rose’s wizards but I know a few tricks.” You twirl your finger like a wand and Karkat rolls his eyes.

“Wizards?” Kanaya looks at Rose and the blonde blushes, glaring at you. You laugh.

 

\--

 

Drama and English are uneventful. In Drama, your teacher gives you a script to go home and practice. You got assigned to John Watson,it took you a while to get over the fit of laughter at the irony of your shared first name, and a red-haired boy was Sherlock Holms. Nepeta was playing the part of one of the murder suspects oddly enough. You can’t imagine her killing anyone so it’s kind of adorable how she tries to sound like she can. You notice she likes to use cat puns and against the advice of your teacher, tries to shove them into her lines. 

English is full of the same, you are assigned to read the Cask of Amontillado that night and the class groans. It’s not long but it was instinct to recoil at the thought of any kind of homework on the first day.

P.E pretty much sucks like you thought it would. Its then that you realize you share a class with your worst enemy: Jack Noir. Tall and lanky, the dark-skinned boy always picked on you at your old school. Dave got in a major fight with him a while back when he found out the guy was beating you up and Dave almost got expelled so you didn’t tell Dave about it when the torture started up again.

You try your best to avoid him but he’s in your class with the same coach and everything. You also have a familiar purple cape in your class. You tried to say hi to Eridan but he scoffed at your wave and fucking flipped his cape at you before leaving. What a douche. 

Jack seems to enjoy watching you try to evade his presence but it was futile. You ended up shoved against a shower stall in the locker room and received a verbal lashing.

Jazz band was fun; you all introduced yourselves and what instruments you played. You were the only pianist in the group and the teacher nodded in approval. The tall troll with a mess of black hair and clown makeup played the drums and wasn’t too bad at it. You sought out your friends at the end of the day with a conclusion that the year would be fairly interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates for this will take a little(a lot) longer than my other fics so I'd like to apologize in advance for that.

Two weeks later, and school was picking up. You and Nepeta were really good friends even if her other friend, Equius, didn’t like you near her unless you committed to being her friend for the rest of your life. Your Drama teacher adored you and everyone loved your piano work in Jazz Band.. Your History teacher was boring and made everything boring too, Dave was the only reason you managed to stay awake in the class.

Karkat still acted like he hated you but he sat beside you at lunch everyday so your pretty sure anger is just his way of showing affection. It was odd though, sometimes you would get pangs of déjà vu around the troll but you’d remember a grumpy troll like Karkat, wouldn’t you?

It is now after school; Dave got detention for rapping Shakespeare to his English teacher and then proceeding to burn her. Dave was the best rapper, it was him. Too bad his teacher didn’t think so. You were in the Band room, waiting for 5 o’clock to roll around so Dave could take you home; Jade and Rose had gotten a ride from Kanaya. You insisted on staying upon being offered, for obvious reasons.

You sit at the piano nursing a black eye you got from Jack and you now regret turning Kanaya down. Rose and the others would have pried but you were kinda scared of Dave’s reaction. If he knew Jack was putting his hands on you again he might try and kick the bully’s ass again. You didn’t want Dave to get in trouble for you not being able to handle your own problems so you came up with an excuse as you played the piano.

You were lost in an angrily played song when someone scoffed. Anger bubbled up, reminding you of how much your face hurt and how you had to get new shoes because Jack had taken scissors to the soles and were rendered useless.

“Well then Egbert, if you want to break the piano keep up that incessant racket. I could hear your ear-splitting torture from the library. Have you nothing better to do than waste that instrument's life on your pitiful songs? Why don’t you-” Karkat sneers at the back of your head and you slam out a chord before whipping around in a rage.

“Oh my GOD KARKAT!” You yell, shocking the troll into silence. “Can you shut the FUCK UP for like, five seconds? I’m not in the mood for your bullshit right now.” You’re standing now, hands now fists and trembling at your sides. Karkat sees your black eye and his face softens into an expression you didn’t know the troll could make. He takes a step forward, obviously worried. The look on his face causes the most shocking sense of déjà vu yet. You don’t know how but you are sure you know this troll, knew him before you came to this school. But you can’t remember! It’s frustrating and only adding to your shaking.

“Jesus John, calm the fuck down.” Karkat says soothingly and you visibly relax at the sound of your first name coming from his mouth. It sounds nice in his gruff tone and oh my, why are your cheeks heating up. Shame, that’s it. It has to be. You quickly apologize.

“I-I’m sorry Karkat, I didn’t mean to blow up at you like that.” You sigh a bit. Karkat seems a bit shocked to see you somber, as if he expected you to always a cheery asshole.

“It’s ok Egbert. What the fuck happened to you though? Hit yourself with your locker?” Karkat gives a small smile. It hits you that he’s telling a joke, trying to cheer you up. You smile and laugh, it’s shaky at best but Karkat accepts it whole-heartedly and smiles wider. Oh wow, he was really cute when he smiled. Why did it take a black eye for you to see this side of the troll?

“Something like that,” you shrug. Karkat nods, knowing it’s not true but not prying, and makes his way over to the piano. He strokes a key with his finds, dragging them along a few more in a cacophony of dissonance. You laugh and go over to him and pluck out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for him. Karkat seems to like the song so you play a more complicated version and he’s yours now. Trapped in swirling notes and harmonies. His eyes are alight with wonder and he looks childish. He’ll probably deny this whole thing later so you decide to stare at his face while you let muscle-memory guide your hands in the song. God Karkat looked really cute, you catch yourself and blush, looking away from the awed troll. You barely notice when Dave starts clapping at the door.

“Sweetest date ever Egbert. You really know how to romance a guy.” He laughs, strides forward, and stops, seeing you clearly now. A fist coming to his side. “The fuck happened to your face?” Dave says in a forced calm; however, his seething eyes almost glow red through his shades.

“I had an incident with my locker. That thing hates me I swear it does.” You scratch your head and laugh. Karkat gives you a quick look and sighs.

“The idiot needs someone to hold his hand through the process of opening his own fucking locker.” He sighs loud enough for Dave to hear. You bump Karkat’s shoulder in silent gratitude.

“Oh.” Dave switches his glare from you to Karkat. “Did you see this happen, Lover Boy?” Karkat’s face dusts red and he’s growling harshly, flipping Dave off.

“Fuck off Strider.” He says crudely and you can’t help but smile.

“Dave, are you going to stand there or can you take me home now?” You put on a bright smile in hopes Dave stops asking questions. Your prayers are answered when the albino huffs and turns of his heels and stalks out of the Band room.

“Sorry about that dude, he just worries a lot.” You turn with an apologetic smirk but Karkat is looking at his shoes.

“Do you get attacked by uncooperative lockers often?” He whispers. You catch a breath and frown.

“I used to.” You leave the room head out to the parking lot and see Dave has already started up his shitty car and you slip into the passenger’s seat. You go home and tell Dad the same lie. He accepts it easier than your friends had. Even makes a joke and bakes you a cake, knowing you’d hate it. You really love your Dad sometimes.

==> John: Go to School tomorrow

You wish you could(no you don’t) but today is Saturday and you are currently at a coffee shop inside a bookstore. The store itself is homey and kind of old but it gives off an old library feel to it. Authentic. The coffee shop is styled a bit old fashioned too, the smell of coffee and whipped crème and cookies calm you down  
considerably.

You’re not sure what you’re reading, Jake, Jane’s cousin and kind of the only one who would watch movies with you, had suggested it. So far you could tell it was an action type about an explorer who gets trapped on an island. It seems interesting but you find it hard to concentrate on once you realize there is a familiar face in the café. 

Karkat nibbles on a cookie and is deeply absorbed in a book. You strain to see the cover, your book forgotten and laid down on the table. Ugh. You roll your eyes and smile. Karkat is reading some trashy romance novel and from the look on his face you'd think he were reading the Da Vinci Code. You realize after a while that you’ve been staring at Karkat for a few minutes with a stupid grin on your face when he looks up. Something flashes across his face but it settles into his signature scowl.

“Hey Karkat!” You trill and grab your things, going over to his small, round table. Sitting in the chair opposite to him you smile even wider.

“What the taint-chafing fuck could you want? And who, pray tell, said you could sit here? You’re too close and last time I checked my personal bubble was invitation only. I have no invitations John. And if I did, you would not be the first to fucking receive one. Actually, you’re behind even the likes of that douche Strider on my guest list.” Karkat jabs a clawed finger at you and you take a second to realize how close you two actually are. The small round table is no more than a tall, end table with two chairs on either side. With him slouched over and you leaning closer, it’s actually quite intimate.

You flush bright red and the action seems to elicit the same reaction in your grey companion. Despite this your smile brightens and turns teasing.

“You called me by my first name.” You point out happily.

“Yeah, it was given to you to be associated with your useless mug after all. A noun so that people can identify you as a miserable individual of this backwards society.” Karkat rolls his eyes and leans back a bit. You giggle.

“No, I mean, you usually call me Egbert. So it’s nice when you say my first name.”

“Strider calls you Egbert all the time and you have no problem with it.” He growls and you wave your hand dismissively.

“Yeah, but he does it for ‘Ironic Purposes’.”

“I still don’t see the fucking difference.” 

“Well…” you begin to twiddle you thumbs together and pause. Your face heats up but you continue anyway. “I like it when you say my first name.” It comes out in a shy whisper and you look through thick lashes up at Karkat. He seems a bit broken, flushed in the face and not moving. “K-Karkat?” It takes a moment to realize he’s not looking at you and might not have even heard you.

“Fuck.” He hisses and shoves his book in his messenger bag and stands up quickly. You follow him into a secluded part of the bookstore. You crouch down beside the cursing troll.

“What’s the matter Karkat?” You ask, still a bit red in the cheeks.

“Fuck fuck fuck, my brother. We have to get out of here John.” He’s looking around, trying to plan a clear getaway and your heart lurches at your name again. Why did it do that? Must be from the promise of adventure. Escaping the bookstore without the enemy noticing your presence. That must be it.

“Karkat? Oh hello! I wasn’t aware you were here today. I must say I’m a bit surprised to see you here, and with a friend. I’m feeling a bit triggered however, please inform me beforehand of your secret outings. You know how secrets tend to offend me. Goodness knows how they may trigger another.” The troll in the red sweater, who faintly resembled Karkat, had his speech cut short as Karkat grabbed your hand and ran out of the store.

Damn, why was this escape so exciting? Your heart was beating and your cheeks had never been so red before. Something shocked its way up your arm and to your head, making it a bit fuzzy. All you could focus on were not falling and Karkat’s calloused hand holding yours.

Karkat was holding your hand as he ran down the sidewalk. He turned into a park and down a small trail to a large area with a few benches and a playground set up in the middle. He huffs and let go of your hand. The electricity gone but your hand still feels a slight tingle. You want him to grab your hand again and you mentally scold yourself when you find your hand reaching for his again. You jerk your arm behind your back and keep it there. What is wrong with you?

==> Be a homosexual

What?! No way! You were NOT a homosexual. There was nothing wrong with being one of course but… you’ve never felt anything towards another guy. So that proved it right? 

==> I don’t know John, the whole hand-holding thing kinda goes against what you just said…

Sh-shut up! Karkat’s talking!

You focus in on Karkat as he finally catches his breath and throws an almost apologetic glance your way.

“Sorry ‘bout that. If we’d stayed we would have sooner died than finish listening to him drone on about triggers and shit like that.” He explains and you giggle.

“You’re really cute when you’re out of breath.” It slips out and he raises an eyebrow in amusement.

“Alright Egbert,” he sighs. “I can see you’ve lost it. Go ahead, go on. Say more socially awkward things. I enjoy you’re public embarrassment.” He crosses his arms and puts his weight on his right foot, swaying to shift his position in that direction. You flush and laugh, trying to brush it off and you make some lame excuse. The troll rolls his eyes and smirks.

“Whatever Egbert.” Karkat shakes his head and waves goodbye before departing. You stand in a state of shock, your head hurt now. It was like you were trying to remember this troll but your brain wouldn’t allow it. It was annoying. It’s just that…

That face. The soft smile and the worry he showed you yesterday and the sly smirk today were all so familiar.

==> John: Remember Karkat

You try but it only worsens your headache. Ugh, you don’t want to try anymore. You walk home with a headache and plop into your bed and drift off to sleep even though it’s only four in the afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... im pretty sure John and Karkat just stole those books from the book store.... I really don't even know. They're on the run. Kankri is a cop.... I want to write that now. Dammit!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am REALLY sorry this chapter took so long. If it's any consolation, its fairly long. Thanks for you patience.

You confront Dave in the school parking lot, glad the girls had caught a ride with Kanaya again. You liked the alone time with your best bro.

“Dave? Can I ask you a question?” You fiddle with the hem of your shirt, like the faded blue is the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen.

“You just did.” Dave deadpans and you tilt your head in an exasperated whine.

“Daaaaave! You know what I mean dammit.” You even go as far as to stamp your foot on the ground and are rewarded with a quick flash of a smile.

“Go ahead then.”

“I… I think Karkat and I may have history together…” You finally say after gathering your thoughts and words. Dave looks at you through his shades with a curious twist of his mouth.

“Yeah, third period. I have it with you. And that wasn't even a question.” You groan and slap your palm to your forehead.

“No Dave. I mean like, actual history! Like, sometimes I get this horrible déjà vu around Karkat. Like I remember him but I don’t remember where and it’s driving me nuts because I can’t even try to think about it or else my head hurts. Like, a lot!” Dave just stares at you, probably thinking you were crazy. But you knew that anyway. 

“So, you think you may have met Vantas somewhere before and just don’t remember? Then why not ask Egbert? I mean, he can’t be that unapproachable. Rose tells me you seem pretty close during lunch.” He shifts with a breeze and waves past you at a troll girl with bright red shades then returns his focus back on you.

“I… I never thought of that…” You reply lamely.

“Christ Egbert, is there anybody even up there? They must be rich as fuck because they leave the light on all the time. No one is home John, they have vacated the area. Must have a light bill like a bitch.” Dave taps his knuckles lightly on your head and you slap his hand away, giggling. He smirks and ruffles your hair.

“Come on bro, let’s get to class. If we make it inside early enough, you might even be able to give a crack at your locker.

You never ended up opening it. Nor did you ever get the chance to ask Karkat.

 

\--

 

It’s a few days later, after school and outside of the public library. Nepeta had already left in Equius’s car a few minutes ago. The two of you had been reading a few Shakespeare plays for Drama and now you were simply walking home. Well not straight away. You had been distracted with some little girl who had gotten lost from her mommy. Her name was Casey and after about half an hour of searching you managed to find the worried woman and reunite the two. It was a beautiful moment.

If only you’d had a bunny to give her. Hell fucking yes.

You are now back where you started, in front of the library and walking down the sidewalk. It’s cool outside and the roads aren’t very busy despite it being a Thursday afternoon.  
You aren’t paying attention and end up bumping into the hard chest of a tall figure. You curse your luck and try to scramble away but to no avail as Jack grips your shirt in his meaty hands, wrinkling it.

“Where were you looking Eggy?” He sneers and you flinch. He shakes you a bit with his laughter and you gather enough air in your lungs to make words.

“I-I’m sorry Jack.” You whisper and he laughs harder at that. Now you’re a bit scared, your eye JUST finished healing for fucks sake! Couldn’t you maintain a healthy looking complexion for more than a few days before he had to royally fuck it up? “Please l-let go.” You plead and he stops laughing to grin at you wickedly.

“Sure thing Eggy. Anything for you.” He grips your shirt tighter for a second and pulls you in only to release you, press his hands flat on your chest, and shove you hard away from him. You stumble, startled by the sudden shift in balance. You’re sure Jack didn’t time this; he’s not that cruel right? But as you stumble into the street, a car is honking at you, trying to slam on its breaks or swerve or do something to deter from hitting you.

Eyes shut tight and the world around you is reduced to nothing but sound; you panic. You can’t help but think: This all seems a bit familiar. A hand grips yours and yanks you back onto the sidewalk, nearly pulling your arm from its socket. You and whoever saved you stumble backwards and fall to the ground. The car swooshes past you and you tremble against the chest that is supporting you, sitting up on the sidewalk with you practically in their lap. 

“Fuck! John are you ok?!” Your eyes snap open to see that ashen face, the one that makes your heart beat faster than it already is, twisted in concern and fear. Now you are sure of it. You know he has done something like this before.

 

**== > John: Remember Karkat**

You actually do this time. You remember yourself being pushed around outside a playground when you were younger, still in elementary school. A few kids had taken your lunch and you really wanted your PB&J back. One had pushed you and you stumbled into the road, never having had the best balance to begin with. They had all gasped and took off running the minute they thought you were going to get run over. Some grey kid with messy black hair, shorter and calmer than it is now, had grabbed your arm and yanked you back.

Of course this boy hadn’t been very gentle, probably being fueled on adrenaline and fear but you had fallen back onto the sidewalk where you’d been a moment ago but now you were slightly injured, having smacked you’re head a little on the ground. God that hurt.

Young Karkat had been very worried about you and had waited around with the adult that had almost run you over while he called the hospital and John’s dad. Karkat had taken to talking to you; he’d smile softly every so often when you laughed shakily at something he’d said. When your dad finally appeared on the scene, arriving before the ambulance, Karkat had waved goodbye. You asked him if he would stay but he said he had things to do and apologized. You thanked him and so did your dad and then he left with a smirk and a wave.

You thought you’d never see the boy that had saved you again. Especially when the doctors said you had a slight concussion. You suppose now the concussion could be the cause of why it had hurt to try and resurface the repressed memory.

 

“John!” Karkat of the present calls again, shaking you softly from your daze. You look up at him like you are a child again.

“Karkat.” You whisper, “Y-you saved me.” You add. Karkat rolls his eyes until he catches your next worked. “Again.”

“What are you talking about? Dammit, did that grubfucker damage your think-pan further?” He insults you half-heartedly. “John, are you ok?” He asks immediately after, concern turning his face red.

“Yeah… but… you did it again. Karkat. Gosh, I hope I don’t make a habit out of this.” You chuckle despite yourself but this only deepens Karkat’s scowl.

“John, I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. Are you sure you’re ok? Fuck, Strider will hang me if you’re not.” He swipes your bangs out of your eyes and your heart stutters at the spark that ignites at his touch. You’re a bit crestfallen that he doesn’t remember saving you the first time, but then again neither did you up until a few seconds ago.

“I promise I’m fine.” Karkat’s hand cups your cheek and you lean into it. He freezes for a second before removing his hand and you pout. _Dammit Karkat, that felt nice!_ You want to whine but realize that’s probably not something friends said to one another platonically. Though you’re starting to think your feelings for the troll are far from platonic.

“Good. Can you stand?” Hands help you to your feet once you nod. “Fuck, I’ll wring that grubfucker’s neck with his own diseased bulge if I ever see his excuse for a face near you.” Karkat shakes with visible rage and you sigh. 

“Can we just… let this go? I mean, don’t go looking for a fight. And don’t tell Dave! I’m fine so can we just leave it?” You chance a look at Karkat and he’s staring up at you in disbelief. Silence drags on for a moment and you are suddenly afraid he will refuse your request and he and Dave will go after Jack. Then they would get in trouble for you. Might even get expelled judging by the way Karkat’s fists keep clenching like he could kill someone if given the chance right now. Finally Karkat sighs and his shoulders haunch over in defeat.

“Ok. But I swear John, if this happens again; or anything similar, I will kick his ass AND inform Strider. Together we will gladly beat the shit out of him. His own mother won’t be able to tell his ass from his miserable face when we are through with him.” You have to stop him there because he takes a breath as if he’s going to continue. 

“Yeah yeah, can you just walk me home?” Karkat nods and helps you along. A few minutes into the walk you assure him that you can walk fine on your own and don’t need him to guide you along and immediately regret it. Karkat removes his hand from your back and moves away to a “friendly” distance and you miss the contact.

 

\--

 

“Dave! I figured it out! Karkat is the one that save me when we were kids. Remember when I went to the hospital with that silly concussion?” You blurt out upon entering Dave’s crap car the next day.

“You mean the one you had a crush on?” Dave smirks and your face does a convincing impression of a tomato.

“No Dave! It was not a crush! It was appreciation for my savior! Get it right!” You whine and slam the door as the albino pulls away from your house. Now you are staring at your shoes and Dave turns toward you at the first red light.

“Ok man, what’s bothering you? You’re acting strange… Did something happen?” Dave asks; the last part a bit tense. You shake your head quickly but don’t speak.

“Come on, spill it. We may be lacking the pillows and popcorn but that doesn’t mean we can't have a good feelings jam in the car. I’m pretty sure there’s some stale popcorn in the seats somewhere if that makes things better.”

“Ew Dave. I hope not!” You cringe but Dave won’t stop looking at you so you finally relent. Wow, your shirt sure is interesting. You don’t think you could possibly tear your eyes away from that gorgeous material. So that’s what you decide to look at as you speak.

“Sorry bro, I didn’t wear my hearing aids this morning so you may have to speak up past the sound of a fly passing gas. My hearing isn’t as good as it once was in my youth.” Your face goes an even deeper shade of red and you stare at your shoes now, blocking the albino from your peripheral. Damn you dress nicely! All these interesting garments you put on today really came in handy.

“I said… ImighthaveacrushonKarkat.” It all comes out in a blur and you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself. _There!_ You said it! You have lost your heterosexual license. It has officially been revoked because you have admitted to romantic interests in another guy. 

You hope this doesn’t mean you lose your mangrit license too. You have too much mangrit to lose. You have all of the mangrit. Every last bit.

“Ok.” Dave starts out, eyes on the road because they were driving again. “Wow…” You freeze; you never once thought that telling him might freak him out. You were a pretty touchy-feely person, what if Dave thought all your hugs and sleepovers were like, passes at him? What if he didn’t want to be around you anymore? You don’t want to think about losing your heterosexual license AND your best friend!

“Just… Wow John…” Dave repeats and you panic.

“Listen Da-” You begin frantically.

“Did you finally figure that out?” What… “I mean, it’s about time, damn Egderp. There’s been a bet going in for a few weeks about this. Looks like Rose won. Ugh. She’ll never let us live it down.” Dave shakes his head, probably mourning over whatever it was he’d lost in the bet.

“Wait a second, back up. You were betting on my affections for Karkat? Dave! How could you!? That’s kind of messed up. Who all was in it?” 

“Oh, just me, Jade, Rose, Kanaya, and Nepeta.” Dave shrugs and looks both ways before rolling past a stop sign.

“Nepeta!?” You bury your face in your hands and groan.

“Yeah, her and Jade were pretty optimistic, bet that you’d realize pretty quickly. I, knowing your dense ways, thought it’d take a lot longer. Kanaya bet that you’d figure it out in about a week or two. Pretty close. Kudos to her.” You really can’t believe this…

“Wait so… you all thought I liked Karkat before I even did?” You squint, thinking you might be able to see past the wall of confusion Dave was building.

“Pfft, _‘thought'_ , yeah. As if you were that discrete. Dude, you were practically fawning over Vantas like a love struck schoolgirl from day one. We all knew. Just had to wait for you to catch up.” Dave laughs and you blush. Fuck… did that mean Karkat knew too? If you were as obvious as Dave says then…

“Don’t worry Romeo; Karkat is as clueless as you." Dave answers your thoughts. "Kanaya even said you’d probably need to fill him in once you found out yourself. Now I’ve said enough. Its time you thought of your confession speech. He likes romance right? Memorize some lines from Romeo and Juliet or something.” Dave chuckled again and you pout. 

“Dammit Dave!”

“Shoosh, no talking now. Only silence.” Dave shooshes you and you begrudgingly relent. The rest of the drive is filled with silence and you find yourself trying to remember the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is ladies and gentlemen. The dialogue at the beginning of the chapter. That was the whole reason I wrote this fic. Just to make that joke(the one about history). Your welcome.


End file.
